Randomly Reading: Explorers

Welcome to the No Boundaries Blog Tour!

In No Boundaries, twenty-five inspiring women from around the world -- many of whom are National Geographic Explorers -- share their adventures, failures, successes, sage advice and lessons learned, straight from the field. This week, get to know five of the amazing women featured in No Boundaries and be inspired by their work and the challenges they overcame to forge new paths in science and exploration!

Meet Mallory Dimmitt

Mallory Dimmitt is an expedition leader. Her goal is to protect and restore Florida’s wildlife habitats, and to connect them to one another so that animals have an uninterrupted area to roam. Recognizing that the first step to saving these habitats is to open people’s eyes to these amazing wild lands, she and her team from the Florida Wildlife Corridor organization complete both long and short expeditions and share the photos and video footage with the public. Follow her on Instagram for her latest adventures @mallorydimmitt.

Q: How do you sleep in a swamp?
Mallory: “We mostly sleep in hammocks, with mesh screens for mosquito control. When we started our third trip, the weather was chilly, and we were a little more exposed in a ham- mock than we would have been in a tent, so my back got cold. But then by the end of the trip it was hot, and when you’re hot and sticky, sleeping in a hammock can be uncomfortably snug! I try to lie still and focus on listening to all the night noises I can distinguish until I fall asleep.“

Mallory’s Must-Haves:
Fun! Mallory and her team like to play along the way—they toss Frisbees between canoes and sometimes get out in the swamp to splash around and throw a football. Together they biked the final 25 miles (40 km) to the Green Swamp, Florida’s second largest wetland. When they got there, they jumped into the dark waters for a celebratory swim.

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Meet 25 female explorers and scientists in these inspirational and poignant stories of exploration, courage, and girl power.

Along the way, they share lessons learned and words of wisdom sure to inspire the next generation of scientists, adventurers, and world-changers.

Track a volcanologist as she braves the elements atop an active volcano. Travel alongside a mountaineer as she battles stereotypes―and frostbite―to conquer the famed Seven Summits. Join a conservationist on her passionate fight to save lions. Dig with a paleontologist to uncover massive dinosaur fossils, bit by breathtaking bit. These heartfelt stories give readers an insider’s look at the amazing work female explorers at National Geographic―and beyond―are doing in the field to solve some of the world’s toughest problems.

Rather than detailing the lives of well-known women, this anthology celebrates lesser-known changemakers and outstanding women of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, and fields of study who are just beginning to make a name for themselves. Each profile is based on first-person interviews and comes paired with useful tips and relatable advice for budding explorers and scientists. Stunning photography and fascinating general interest information about the animals, places, and practices add drama and context.

No Boundaries sends a positive message to every girl who has ever dreamed or dared to go a little further. And although these explorers’ endeavors are quite adventurous, the lessons they share can inspire all girls, as well as boys, whatever their goals, skills, and interests.

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CLARE FIESELER is a National Geographic explorer, photojournalist, and conservation biologist. She has conducted field research on coral reefs and island ecology across the Caribbean and wider Atlantic Ocean. She also studies urban wildlife in her home city of Washington, D.C. As a journalist, Fieseler has traveled the globe, reporting on emerging environmental problems for the Washington Post, NPR, and National Geographic, among other outlets. She was awarded the 2019 Mass Media Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fieseler is most proud of the time she rappelled down a rock cliff with a broken foot to photograph the world’s most endangered fern.

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GABBY SALAZAR is a National Geographic explorer, a nature and conservation photographer, and a social scientist. As a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Photography and an associate fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, she has worked on environmental photography projects across the globe, spending months at a time living in tropical rainforests and on tropical islands. Salazar has an MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Florida’s School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Science, where she studies environmental marketing. She is committed to environmental education and uses photography to get kids outdoors and to connect them with nature.

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Blog Tour Schedule:
March 28th - Teen Librarian Toolbox
March 29th - YA Book Nerd
March 30th - Always in the Middle
March 31st - Bookhounds
April 1st - Randomly Reading

When Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl proposed a theory that ancient Incans had traveled by raft from South America to the islands of the south pacific - a distance of approximately 4,300 nautical miles - everyone thought it was simply impossible.

So when Heyerdahl was asked if he would be willing to try the voyage himself on a flimsy balsa wood raft, he rose to the challenge. Heyerdahl had based his theory on the resemblance between statues made by ancient peoples in South America to those of the mythic Tiki found on the Polynesian island of Fatu Hiva.

On April 28, 1947, after building a raft which he called the Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl set off from Peru with a crew of five men - four Norwegians and one Swede. Not only did Heyerdahl want to prove his theory, but he was also asked to test survival gear by the United States Navy. Carrying very little food with them, the crew mainly lived on what they could catch everyday, and the flying fish they found on the deck each morning. They carried a radio to report on weather and other meteorological conditions, but everyone aboard the Kon-Tiki knew that if they ran into trouble, there was no possibility of rescue.

Almost immediately, the south Pacific Ocean proved itself to be a forceful obstacle to the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, with its powerful winds and towering waves. Did the Kon-Tiki prove itself to be sea worthy? Did the raft make it to the south pacific islands with all men intact and prove Heyerdahl's theory?

The route taken by the Kon-Tiki

I was very curious to read this wonderful picture book for older readers. I had read Heyerdahl's book, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft in high school and had found it fascinating. It is nice to see that this exciting story is now made accessible to younger readers.

Deborah Kogan Ray has organized the story of the Kon-Tiki so that each two page spread, headed by a quote from Heyerdahl's book, shows another step in the voyage of that simple raft. Ray's realistic illustrations are done using watercolors in a soft palette very tropical blues, greens and browns. The illustrations are at once beautiful and powerful, often demonstrating the mountainous waves of the Pacific in relation to the small raft, as well as other perils the men of Kon-Tiki faced.

Ray has included a map (above), a short biography of Thor Heyerdahl and an Bibliography for further exploration.

Most people don't think much about the voyage of the Kon-Tiki anymore and this is a nice reminder of the brave men who undertook that trip.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

This is book 1 of my 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher at KidLitFrenzy